Laboratory staff, at all levels, interact with other labs, branches, and directorates at GSFC, as well as with other scientific groups in the U.S. and worldwide. This section describes some of these interactions.
4.8.1 Contributions to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program’s Synthesis and As-
sessment Products
In the past year, scientists in the Laboratory for Atmospheres contributed to the US Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP) reports that addressed various aspects of the coun- try’s highest-priority climate research, observation and decision-support needs. The NASA-led report in this series, SAP2.3 “Atmospheric Aerosol Properties and Climate Impacts,” involved Mian Chin (Code 613.3) as the coordinating lead author; and Ralph Kahn, Lorraine Remer, and Hongbin Yu (all in Code 613.2) as lead authors, as well as seven other scientists from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), NOAA, DoE, and NASA HQ. The report provides a comprehensive assessment of current knowledge about aerosol proper- ties and radiative forcing, based on the synthesis of satellite data, in situ measurements, and global models. It also recommends the way forward to better understanding the role aerosols play in climate change. The report points out that current uncertainties in total anthropogenic climate forcing estimates (including greenhouse gases and aerosols) are dominated by the uncertainties in the aerosol component. It states that to achieve the goal of reducing uncertainties in aerosol impacts on climate, an advanced, multidisciplinary approach that integrates surface, aircraft, and space-based measurements with models will have to be developed.
Laboratory for Atmospheres scientists, those who participated in writing SAP 2.3, as well as many others, are also leaders in just this sort of work. In addition, Paul Newman, Jay Herman, Anne Douglass, and Richard Stolarski (all in Code 613.3) served as lead authors on a NOAA-led SAP 2.4, “Trends in Emissions of Ozone- Depleting Substances, Ozone Layer Recovery, and Implications for Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure.” SAP 2.4 addresses the connections between the emissions, stratospheric ozone trends, and climate change. This report discussed the importance of ozone for screening UV radiation, looked at the compounds that produce ozone destruction (mainly human produced), discussed the ozone depletion (past, present, and future), and covered the science issues behind ozone depletion.
For more information and the entire reports, see http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/.
4.8.2 SorCe Mission extended 2010–2013
Since its launch in January 2003, the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) has achieved its goal of simultaneously measuring TSI and SSI in the 0.1–27 nm and 115–2400 nm wavelength ranges with unprecedented accuracy and precision. SORCE has successfully completed its 5-year core mission (January 2003 to January 2008) and is in its second year of an extended mission. SORCE has accomplished unique new observations and understanding of solar radiative forcing of Earth’s climate and atmosphere during the descending phase of solar activity cycle 23 and has successfully established the first solar reference spectra for cycle minimum conditions, in 2008.
Variations in the Sun’s total and spectral irradiance impose key natural forcings of the climate system. Accurate, precise long-term records of TSI and SSI are thus, important components of NASA’s Earth Science program. Current TSI and SSI measurements by NASA SORCE, future TSI measurement by NASA Glory, and planned TSI and SSI measurements by NOAA NPOESS TSIS are key climate measurements for our national climate program.
4.8.3 The Academic Community
The Laboratory relies on collaboration with university scientists to achieve its goals. Such relationships make optimum use of Government facilities and capabilities, and those of academic institutions. These relationships also promote the education of new generations of scientists and engineers. Educational programs include sum- mer programs for faculty and students, fellowships for graduate research, and associateships for postdoctoral studies. A number of Laboratory members teach courses at nearby universities and give lectures and seminars at U.S. and foreign universities. (See Section 6 for more details on the education and outreach activities of our Laboratory.) The Laboratory frequently supports workshops on a wide range of scientific topics of interest to the academic community.
NASA and non-NASA scientists work together on NASA missions, experiments, and instrument and system development. Similarly, several Laboratory scientists work on programs at universities or other Federal agen- cies.
The Laboratory routinely makes its facilities, large data sets, and software available to the outside community. The list of refereed publications, presented in Appendix 2, reflects our many scientific interactions with the outside community; over 85% of the publications involve coauthors from institutions outside the Laboratory. Prime examples of the collaboration between the academic community and the Laboratory are given in this list of collaborative relationships via Memoranda of Understanding or cooperative agreements:
Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), with the University of Wisconsin, Madi- •
son;
ESSIC, with the University of Maryland, College Park; •
GEST Center, with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (and involving Howard University); •
JCET, with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; •
Joint Center for Observation System Science (JCOSS), with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Uni- •
versity of California, San Diego; and
Cooperative agreement with Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. •
These collaborative relationships have been organized to increase scientific interactions between the Laboratory for Atmospheres at GSFC, and the faculty and students at the participating universities.
In addition, university and other outside scientists visit the Laboratory for periods ranging from one day, to as long as three years. Some of these appointments are supported by the NASA Postdoctoral Program administered by the Oak Ridge Associated Universities; others, by the Visiting Scientists and Visiting Fellows Programs cur- rently managed by the GEST Center. Visiting Scientists are appointed for up to two years and perform research in pre-established areas. Visiting Fellows are appointed for up to one year and are free to carry out research projects of their own design.
4.8.4 other NASA Centers and Federal Laboratories
Our ties with the other NASA Centers broaden our knowledge base. They allow us to complement each other’s strengths, thus increasing our competitiveness while minimizing duplication of effort. They also increase our ability to reach the Agency’s scientific objectives.
Our interactions with other Federal laboratories enhance the value of research funded by NASA. These interac- tions are particularly strong in ozone and radiation research, data assimilation studies, water vapor and aerosol measurements, ground-truth activities for satellite missions, and operational satellites. An example of interagency interaction is the NASA/NOAA/National Science Foundation (NSF) Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimila- tion (JCSDA), which is building on prior collaborations between NASA and NCEP to exploit the assimilation of satellite data for both operational and research purposes.
4.8.5 Foreign Agencies
The Laboratory has cooperated in several ongoing programs with non-U.S. space agencies. These programs involve many of the Laboratory scientists.
Major efforts have included TRMM, with the Japanese National Space Development Agency (NASDA); the TOMS program with NASDA and the Russian Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics (NIIEM); the OMI Program with Netherlands’s Agency for Aerospace Programs (NIVR), with the Japanese Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science (ISAS); and climate research with various institutes in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. Another example of international collaboration was in the second SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE II) campaign, which was conducted in close collaboration with the Validation of International Satellites and study of Ozone Loss (VINTERSOL) campaign sponsored by the European Com- mission. More than 350 scientists from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Switzerland participated in this joint effort, which took place in January 2003.
In 2004, another international collaboration started with the upload of instruments for the Polar Aura Validation Experiment (PAVE). PAVE is an Aura satellite validation involving instruments on the DC-8. Many of the ex- perimenters from SOLVE II are involved in this campaign, which took place in late January and early February of 2005. This cooperation continued during 2006 in campaigns such as CR-AVE, INTEX-B1, and MILAGRO2 and in 2007 in campaigns such as TC4. Laboratory scientists interact with about 20 foreign agencies, about an equal number of foreign universities, and several foreign companies. The collaborations vary from extended visits for joint missions, to brief visits for giving seminars, or working on joint science papers. Such relation- ships were developed during the 2008 ARCTAS field campaign in Canada. The program involved three NASA aircraft, the DC-8, P-3B, and B-200, collectively carrying more than 20 instruments, plus ground stations, the NASA EOS satellites, and over 300 researchers, including many from the Laboratory for Atmospheres. These activities are described in detail in Section 4.2.1.